Shipwreck hunters in the Great Lakes have made another big find: the Margaret A. Muir schooner, which sank in Lake Michigan during a storm 131 years ago. The Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association says a team of maritime historians searching for the Muir found the 130-foot schooner in around 50 feet of water a few miles from the entrance to Algoma Harbor, where it had lain "undetected for over a century, despite hundreds of fishing boats passing over each season." The team used historical records and high-resolution sonar in the search.
The Muir was discovered near where the wreck of the Trinidad, a schooner that sank in 1881, was found last year, reports CBS News, though it is not as well-preserved. The WUAA says its sides have fallen out and its deck has collapsed, "but all its deck gear remains, including two giant anchors, hand pumps, its bow windlass, and its capstan." The Muir, carrying a cargo of salt from Bay City, Michigan, to South Chicago, Illinois, sank during a gale on Sept. 30, 1893. According to the WUAA, it sank moments after the captain gave the order to abandon ship.
Thanks to the "expert seamanship" of David Clow, the 71-year-old captain, the ship's lifeboat made it "through the giant breakers and onto the beach where the freezing and soaked crew of six were spotted by the townsfolk," per the WUAA. As with the Trinidad, the only casualty was the captain's dog. According to the WUAA, the dog was "an intelligent and faithful animal, and a great favorite with the captain and crew," and Clow said: "I would rather lose any sum of money than to have the brute perish as he did." The WUAA is working to nominate the site to be added to the National Register of Historic Places. (More shipwreck stories.)
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